Visit from the Hebei-province in China

Friday the 24th of March a Chinese delegation visited Danfoss, EUC-south and ProjectZero. The guests were very excited and had many questions regarding Sonderborg’s numerous initiatives.

By Brian Egering

The delegation came from Hebei in northern China and included 10 guests lead by chairman of Hebei Development and Reform Commission (Hebei DRC), Mao Yushan (毛宇山).

The afternoon started off with a tour of Danfoss in Nordborg. Our guests brought their own translator, which made communication very easy. After the tour of Danfoss they headed to Sonderborg, where Peter Rathje during the trip told them about the different ways, in which, Sonderborg had transitioned towards green energy. The new intern, Brian Egering, who’s majoring in business and Chinese, was responsible for some of the translation. On the way to Sonderborg many of the solar panel systems in the area were introduced.

After a tour of EUC-south by Hans Lehmann, the trip continued to Sonderborg incineration and afterwards to Alsion, where vicemayor Aase Nyegaard held a speech, CEO of Esbensen Consulting Engineers, Torben Esbnsen made a presentation and Brian presented ProjectZero in Chinese.

The night was spent at the restaurant “torvehallen”, where good food and drinks were enjoyed.

China and the Hebei-province on environmental protection

China has, in recent years, been facing severe environmental issues. China’s biggest challenge is to reduce the usage of fossil fuels. One of the major pollutants of water and air is the burning of coal for energy. In the years 2000-2010 China’s use of fossil fuels increased drastically, but lately that trend has been reversed. In 2015 the use of coal was decreased by 4% and Co2-emissions buy around 1,5%. As a part of China’s new 5-year plan the goal is to further decrease the use of coal and instead, to protect the people and the environment, promote energy from green sources such as biogas, sun and wind.

Hebei has also taken several actions in order to promote green energy. Just like ProjectZero Hebei also has an ambitious 2020-plan. First and foremost the plan includes to reduce the Co2-emissions by 20,5% compared to 2015 and to make 50% of new buildings in 2020 environmentally friendly buildings. Secondly the use of non fossil fuels is to increase from around 3% to 7%. Thirdly Co2-control will be established in eight different industries across the province. Last, but not least forest areas are to expand.